Fastest, Easiest and most cost effective Bachelors for a homeschool mom

[ErikaF]

Hi everyone. 

I'm looking for some degree planning advice.  I'm a homeschool mom and we have emigrated to Portugal.  The law in Portugal requires a homeschool mom to have ANY bachelors degree.

Thus I need to obtain mine a.s.a.p.
I'm busy with my Sophia credits and have 56 so far. 

Your Age: over 40

What kind of degree do you want?: Any! At first I though a BSLA from Excelsior would be the best transferring about 90 from Sophia and then perhaps 23 UL from Coopersmith and the last 7 with Excelsior.

But then I spoke to a gentleman from here and he recommended UMPI which I didn't know anything about.

Now I'm strongly considering UMPI mostly because of simplicity, cost and time.

These courses I have taken from Sophia already:
- Developing Effective Teams
- Project Management
- Introduction to Web Development
- IT Career Exploration
- Introduction to Information Technology
- Essentials of Managing Conflict
- Conflict Resolution
- Visual Communications
- Art History 1 & 2
- Environmental Science
- US History 1 & 2
- Macro- and Microeconomics
- Human Biology
- Intro. to Ethics
- Intro. to Business
- Intro. to Statistics
- Accounting
- Foundations of Statistics

Any certifications or military experience? 
I took a few credit courses from Broward CC in perhaps 2004/5 but don't have my records.  I also did a few personal training, fitness instruction etc. classes in South Africa but don't have any transcripts.
No military.

I completed High School in SAfrica and not even sure how to get that records, but I guess I can call the school. 

I'm worried about acceptance to UMPI as English was studied as a second language in high-school - although my home language has been English for over 24years and I am an American Citizen.

UMPI looks like a good route because I can allocate 6-8 hrs a day to it and hopefully do 10 classes in 1 session.

My other question is about math and English.  I'm VERY nervous about those and not sure where the best place is to take it. 

The classes I have left on Sophia mostly need papers, so I thought I should perhaps do English first to help with the paper touchstones, but then I see some say English with UMPI is more doable than Sophia???

Perhaps I should do English 1 atleast with Sophia to help with the papers?
I'm so confused!!

Appreciate any guidance

[mohelena02]

Other people will have better input regarding what degree program for you to consider, but I think UMPI is a great choice. I was considering it myself.

I wanted to hop in and say congratulations on all your work on Sophia, I have done the same amount of Sophia courses and I know that takes a lot of dedication.

I did English 1 + 2 on Sophia, English 1 was fine, English 2 was hell, papers took 2+ weeks to get graded. I would recommend you consider Study.com for English 2. I completed a ton of courses on Study.com as well and really liked the platform.

[ss20ts]

I wouldn't take English Comp on Sophia. I took Eng Comp 2 and it was awful! After 90 days I still had 2 more papers to write. The grading took 2 weeks or longer and the grading was poorly done. I dropped it and took it at UMPI where I completed the course in 3 days. If you're looking at UMPI, take your English Comp courses there. They are only 1 paper at UMPI. On Sophia you'll be writing about a dozen papers between the 2 classes.

[ErikaF]

Other people will have better input regarding what degree program for you to consider, but I think UMPI is a great choice. I was considering it myself.

I wanted to hop in and say congratulations on all your work on Sophia, I have done the same amount of Sophia courses and I know that takes a lot of dedication.

I did English 1 + 2 on Sophia, English 1 was fine, English 2 was hell, papers took 2+ weeks to get graded. I would recommend you consider Study.com for English 2. I completed a ton of courses on Study.com as well and really liked the platform.

[ss20ts]

UMPI is very open and accepting of international students. The application process for international students is a bit different than US students. Nothing crazy though. You are in good shape to complete a BLS at UMPI. With the BLS you'd have your choice of 5 minors. You will need transcripts from Broward Community College sent to UMPI but that shouldn't be difficult. The only other math I'd recommend is College Algebra and you can take that on Sophia. I'd also recommend taking Intro to Sociology on Sophia, Spanish 1 and American Government on InstantCert, and Biology with Lab on Study.com. This is all for UMPI not Excelsior. If you decide on UMPI then you'll need to select a degree.

https://online.umpi.edu/

[Vle045]

A BLS with an Education minor seems like it could be perfect for you if the primary goal for the degree is to homeschool your kids.

[mohelena02]

Other people will have better input regarding what degree program for you to consider, but I think UMPI is a great choice. I was considering it myself.

I wanted to hop in and say congratulations on all your work on Sophia, I have done the same amount of Sophia courses and I know that takes a lot of dedication.

I did English 1 + 2 on Sophia, English 1 was fine, English 2 was hell, papers took 2+ weeks to get graded. I would recommend you consider Study.com for English 2. I completed a ton of courses on Study.com as well and really liked the platform.

I live in Texas and ended up going with Texas A&M Commerce because they cost $750 per every 7 week term. It's looking like I will need 2-3 terms. That was my cheapest option as an in-state student. I believe the program for out of state costs about double.

[dfrecore]

I think either UMPI or EC is a good option. I would not do an Education Minor for the BLS at UMPI, as it has zero to do with homeschooling (and isn't exactly useful if you're not going to be teaching elementary school really). It's also supposed to have at least 2 courses that are very time-consuming from what I've heard on here. Instead, I'd choose Management, since I think that's the one that most people have said is very doable in a short amount of time, and you already have 1 course for that done.
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The next thing to discuss is foreign language - UMPI requires one, but if you are fluent in something other than English, you can rack up a LOT of credit that way from doing an ACTFL exam. So, let us know if you are fluent, and in which language(s), and how (speaking, writing, reading and listening are all options). Then, we can tell you how to get credit, including UL which is super important at EC.
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Last, English & Math. You have taken Intro to Stats at Sophia, which settles the math requirement at both UMPI and EC, so nothing to even think about there. English at UMPI is the way to go there; at EC, I would consider taking the TECEP exams for that (EC does not accept the CLEP or DSST); or else I'd consider ONU's courses.
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So before any further recommendations, let us know the language situation.

[ErikaF]

Thank you for all that info! Yeah I don't really need any educational degree for homeschooling it can be a degree in rock climbing for all they care, it just needs to be a Bachelors.

I speak Afrikaans which is similar to Deutsche and about 50% Portuguese. I have taken some Spanish when I lived in Florida also I believe at Broward Community College - actually just remembered that ?.

Portuguese would be my Preference but not sure if they will take that. Such great news about the math! Was not looking forward to that.

Where can I find the required classes for the BLS minor in management? Is it all business classes?

Thank you for your advice.

---

UMPI is very open and accepting of international students. The application process for international students is a bit different than US students. Nothing crazy though. You are in good shape to complete a BLS at UMPI. With the BLS you'd have your choice of 5 minors. You will need transcripts from Broward Community College sent to UMPI but that shouldn't be difficult. The only other math I'd recommend is College Algebra and you can take that on Sophia. I'd also recommend taking Intro to Sociology on Sophia, Spanish 1 and American Government on InstantCert, and Biology with Lab on Study.com. This is all for UMPI not Excelsior. If you decide on UMPI then you'll need to select a degree.

https://online.umpi.edu/

[ss20ts]

UMPI accepts pretty much every language for their foreign language requirement. If you click on the link I posted it will bring you to the YourPace website and you can see the different degrees they offer.